U.S. deputy state secretary to visit Iraq Sunday: newspaper

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The United States Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will visit Iraq on Sunday, a newspaper has reported, saying that he would discuss an agreement signed by both governments.

State-owned al-Sabaah said Sullivan will be received by Iraqi foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, noting that, during the visit, Sullivan will discuss “the activation of a strategic agreement between both countries on the diplomatic, political and economic levels”.

Iraq and the United States signed a strategic deal in 2008 regulating the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq which carried out the 2003 invasion against the regime of late president Saddam Hussein.

In addition, the agreement stipulates cooperation between both countries in law enforcement, countering corruption, crime, antiquities smuggling, cyber crimes and other fields

Since 2016, Iraq has been seeking to amend the agreement, with the foreign ministry forming a commission to revise its provision so as to expand and cover political, economic, educational, security and military fields.

U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011, but Washington maintains at least 5000 troops in the country. A U.S.-led coalition has backed the Iraqi forces in their campaign against Islamic State militants since 2014 and until the declaration of the group’s defeat late 2017.